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COMMENTARY / World
Apr 6, 2002

Bush's foreign aid revolution

WASHINGTON -- Just as U.S. President Richard Nixon was able to use his conservative credentials to fend off critics and go to China, President George W. Bush has just announced a policy change that Republicans have opposed for years, but that is long overdue. Over a period of a few years, Bush would...
JAPAN
Apr 6, 2002

House of Councilors rejects censure motion against Takebe

The House of Councilors rejected on Friday a nonbinding censure motion against farm minister Tsutomu Takebe, but New Komeito's decision to abstain from the vote underlined the flagging unity within the Liberal Democratic Party-led ruling coalition.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Apr 6, 2002

Nora Marzuki

Of the Asia-Pacific Ladies Friendship Society, Nora Marzuki said, "One of its main objectives is to raise funds for charity, and this is very dear to my heart. . . . In this day and age, when there are so many unfortunate and disastrous events, our efforts in raising funds can go a long way towards alleviating...
EDITORIALS
Apr 6, 2002

Law for Okinawa's prosperity

Thirty years after its return to Japanese control in May 1972, Okinawa continues to struggle with its twin problems: the heavy presence of U.S. military bases and the relatively low level of industrial development. While the base problem is likely to persist for a long time to come, the drive for economic...
JAPAN
Apr 6, 2002

Li Peng slams 'axis of evil' speech, U.S. hegemony threat

During separate talks Friday with leaders of two opposition parties, top Chinese legislator Li Peng slammed the "axis of evil" speech made in January by U.S. President George W. Bush, according to lawmakers.
EDITORIALS
Apr 5, 2002

Secure food safety

Never before, perhaps, has a government advisory panel made such a scathing attack on public policy. The final report on bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, popularly known as mad cow disease, submitted Tuesday by a 10-member investigative committee, points out that the government made a "grave...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Apr 5, 2002

Fruit fly

* Japanese name: Shojobae * Scientific name: Drosophila melanogaster * Description: This is a tiny (3-mm) fly, with red eyes and one pair of wings. It is almost too small to notice, yet the fruit fly is one of the world's most important organisms. Study of the fruit fly led directly to the science...
COMMENTARY
Apr 4, 2002

U.S. provocations leave China guessing

HONG KONG -- Little more than a month after U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to Beijing seemed to have laid the groundwork for a more stable and cooperative relationship between the United States and China, ties between the two countries are again in danger of unraveling as Washington openly moves...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 4, 2002

Tony Blair struggles to fill Margaret Thatcher's giant shoes

LONDON -- She has been out of power for a dozen years, but former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has remained a formidable political force while her contemporaries on the world scene have faded from view.
JAPAN
Apr 4, 2002

Court wants ex-minors to talk

The Tokyo High Court decided Wednesday to question two of three defendants in a civil damages suit who were accused of murdering a 15-year-old girl in Saitama Prefecture in 1985, when they were minors.
BUSINESS
Apr 4, 2002

China rife with opportunities: Li

The growing Chinese market presents huge investment opportunities for Japanese companies, Li Peng, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, said Wednesday in Tokyo.
COMMENTARY
Apr 4, 2002

Forecasts of an early exit fade

LONDON -- Those who said the war in Afghanistan was over have had to eat their words.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 4, 2002

Group targets family ties via storytelling

As soon as the men would arrive on their big black bikes, children would cheer, set aside their toys and swarm around them even before they began sounding their wooden clappers. A signature large wooden box with openings and drawers was mounted on the back of their bicycles.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Apr 4, 2002

Sea lampreys excited by eau de liver bile

The sea lamprey is a parasitic, eel-like fish with a fearsome, tooth-covered "oral disk" instead of a regular mouth. When attacking, the lamprey rears its head, and clamps its oral disk onto the skin of other fish. With its grasping tongue, it feeds on blood and body fluids for an average of 76 hours,...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Apr 4, 2002

'Park on a possum' is far easier said than done

Back in 1848, some bright spark had a "good" idea. Let's import common brush-tailed possums from Australia and fur-farm them in New Zealand, they thought. They followed up on that idea with action -- action that New Zealand's environment has been paying for ever since.
JAPAN
Apr 3, 2002

Man dies following sex-change operation

OSAKA -- A 35-year-old man from Tokyo died several hours after undergoing a sex-change operation in February at an Osaka clinic suspected of malpractice, sources close to the case said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Apr 3, 2002

Eruption greets visiting Miyake evacuees

A minor volcanic eruption occurred Tuesday morning on Miyake Island, just as some of the island's evacuated residents were in the midst of a brief return visit, the Meteorological Agency said.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Apr 3, 2002

Still chasing their dream

And then there were two . . . Dreams Come True keyboard player Takahiro Nishikawa's announcement on March 24 that he had left the pop trio wasn't all that surprising. For a long time Nishikawa had been very much the odd man out in the DCT lineup, especially after his involvement in a car accident a few...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Apr 3, 2002

In the realms of the spirits

"Ghosts, we hope, may be always with us -- that is, never too far out of the reach of fancy." So wrote British novelist Elizabeth Bowen in the preface to her "Second Ghost Book," published in 1952.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 3, 2002

Painting our inheritance

Traveling to 46 World Heritage cities in 18 countries is impressive enough on its own, but painting them is another thing entirely. Yet, Ecuador's noted contemporary painter Oswaldo Munoz Marino has done just that.
JAPAN
Apr 1, 2002

Many worried about pensions: poll

More than three out of every four Japanese have fears about the future, with many especially concerned about their pensions, Dentsu Inc. said in a recent survey report.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 1, 2002

Risks in waiting on Koizumi

When he debuted as prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi pledged economic and political reforms, saying there will be "no economic recovery without structural reforms." To implement the reforms, Koizumi said he was ready to overhaul the governing Liberal Democratic Party. I have supported Koizumi's determination,...
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Apr 1, 2002

Pundits part of the problem, not its solution

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- For years the Japanese government has been arguing that, as one of the biggest financial contributors to the United Nations, it should have a permanent seat on the Security Council. Japan does indeed bring lots of money to the U.N., but it does not bring much else. One of the...
COMMUNITY
Mar 31, 2002

The horror from the heart of darkness

It was a rough drive to the Cambodian town of Takeo in 1992. Going faster than 30 kph would have been suicidal. National Highway 2 was an unsurfaced dirt road pockmarked with craters from shells and land mines. Takeo, about 60 km south of the capital Phnom Penh, served as a base that year for an engineering...
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Mar 31, 2002

Fancy a bowl of baby eels?

Personal preference, when it comes to taste and flavor, depends as much on conditioning and experience as on the actual taste buds. The same little sensors on different people's tongues may have a violent or favorable reaction to a given food item depending on the individual's personal history with it....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 31, 2002

Abandon the search for meaning

A not-so-funny thing happened to the Australian band Gerling on the way to Japan last fall. Having presented a buzz-worthy performance at last summer's Fuji Rock Festival, the trio was completely psyched for a Japan tour set for November. Then, America was attacked. But while a lot of bands subsequently...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 31, 2002

How to teach the teachers to teach?

To Doreen Simmons, who for more than 20 of her 28 years in Japan has been an editor in the International Affairs Department of the Diet, the idea of Japan adopting English as its second official language sounds "totally unrealistic."
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Mar 31, 2002

A hundred reasons, but one will do

By the time you read this, the last blossom may have already fallen from the deep banks of cherry trees that line the Meguro River as it sweeps through the back streets of Naka-Meguro. If not, then you are in luck. And you should put down your newspaper -- right now -- and head over to Cento Cose, a...

Longform

Atsuyoshi Koike, the president and CEO of Rapidus, says there is a “sense of urgency” when it comes to Japan’s efforts in manufacturing semiconductors. “We have to make sure we are successful,” he says.
Atsuyoshi Koike’s big game: Fourth down and 2 nanometers to go